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The story of Toufic Mrad - beneficiary in the north of Lebanon

8. March 2017 - Lebanon

For years, Toufic Mrad and his family have been living in a village near to a water source without receiving a single drop of it. The other 1,470 people in their commune in the North of Lebanon had no access to it as well.

Like the other inhabitants of Tallet Al Chat Ha and Oyoun, the family Mrad used to receive 1000 liters of water by a truck on average three times a week to fulfill their needs. Toufic’s brother Ali Mrad says that on delivery days someone always had to stay home to wait for the water while the others were out. They felt unfree. “Besides, the quality of the water was bad”, he adds.

Toufic Mrad had to pay 27 US-Dollars per week for the water trucking, which adds up to 1,404 US-Dollars per year. A lot of money. The family man tells that many inhabitants of the village struggled to raise such a sum. But they had no choice. This also applied to the families from Syria who had fled from the war in their home country and found shelter in the village. The money which was spent on drinking water was scarce in other places, e.g. for the children’s education or electricity.

For many years Toufic Mrad from Oyoun did not have a sufficient access to water for his family and himself.

Many communes like the one of Ali and Toufic Mrad struggle to cope with the huge number of people who have to be supported. Therefore, the local authorities are unable to expand the infrastructure in the rural areas. Toufic, his brother Ali and the other inhabitants of the village were anything but happy with the situation.

To solve the supply problem arche noVa and the local partner organization Tankamel Sawa built a water pipeline which connected Tallet Al Chat Ha and Oyoun to the local water system and therefore to the near water source. Thus, the supply is secured and the households now only have to pay 150 US-Dollars per year for water.

Toufic Mrad is glad that his house finally has a water connection and that for the first time in years his family has enough drinking water. He proudly presents the hose in his garden to the arche noVa team.